The Metaverse is quickly becoming one of the most important places for companies and individuals looking to expand their reach. New findings from research firm MarketsandMarkets predict that the Metaverse market size will grow from $61.8 billion in 2022 to $426.9 billion by 2027. In addition, a recent report from Juniper Research links nonfungible token (NFT) growth to metaverse use cases. According to these findings, metaverse-related NFTs will experience an increase from 600,000 transactions in 2022 to 9.8 million by 2027. Given this potential, a number of regions across the globe have started to establish a virtual presence. For example, …

With the Ethereum Merge on the way, the risk research and analysis team Block Analitica proposed a temporary pause in Ether (ETH) borrowing to mitigate the risks which may lead to a decentralized finance (DeFi) implosion in the Aave lending protocol during the Merge. The team pointed out the potential issue of high ETH utilization which may result in liquidations being hard or impossible and annual percentage yields (APYs) reaching negative figures. Furthermore, the uncertainties surrounding the Merge and a potential Ethereum proof-of-work (PoW) fork may cause liquidity providers to start a bank run, pushing utilization to even higher levels. …

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Arbitrum is set to undergo one of its most significant upgrades on Wednesday, set to increase transaction throughput, slash transaction fees and simplify cross-chain communication between Arbitrum and Ethereum. Referred to as the “Nitro” upgrade, Arbitrum reconfirmed the date of the upgrade in a Twitter post on Aug. 29, confirming that the upgrade will take effect on Aug. 31 at 10:30 AM Eastern Time, while noting a two to four hours of network downtime period is to be expected. Reminder — Arbitrum One is upgrading to Nitro on Wednesday 8/31. There will be 2-4 hours of …

The United States equities markets are attempting to stabilize after the carnage on Aug. 26. On similar lines, Bitcoin (BTC) is also witnessing a see-saw battle near the psychological level of $20,000 with both the bulls and the bears vying for supremacy. Although several analysts are bearish on Bitcoin in the near term, it has not stopped the whales from accumulating at lower levels. Data from on-chain research firm Santiment shows that the number of whale addresses holding between 100 to 10,000 Bitcoin has risen by 103 in the past 30 days. In bear markets, rumors spread fast and could …

Bitcoin (BTC) regained some lost ground at the Aug. 29 Wall Street open amid talk of an imminent short squeeze. Shorts lose out in modest squeeze higher for BTC Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD climbing to near $20,400 on Bitstamp as United States equities began trading. The move signaled welcome relief for hodlers, who had looked on as the pair dove increasingly below $20,000 during the weekend. Now, with the market “aggressively short positioned,” conditions appeared to favor a further relief bounce to burn those nursing short trades. Looks like we're doing a little bearbecue. https://t.co/smRfCWC2C0 …

Within a matter of weeks, the Ethereum blockchain is going to undergo the Merge, in one of the biggest and riskiest upgrades in the industry's history: a switch from a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm to Proof-of-Stake. XGo's head of product Josh Cowell explains what the much-anticipated Ethereum Merge is all about — and some of the big questions that currently remain unanswered. 1. Hello! Before we delve into all things Ethereum, tell us about XGo. Hello! We're a bunch of crypto enthusiasts and founded XGo to restore crypto's original goals and principles beyond making money (or losing it!) fast. We have …

The decisions made by companies during bear markets play a pivotal role in determining their longevity in the crypto ecosystem. Representing Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Sato Technologies, COO Fanny Philip revealed what it takes to survive the bearish loom as the market prepares for the next bull run. Speaking to Cointelegraph during the Surfin’ Bitcoin 2022 event in France about the impact of bear markets on business, Philip said now is the time for mining companies to build and learn. Sato is a digital assets mining company, publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSXV) since Sept. 2021 and …

Welcome to Finance Redefined, your weekly dose of essential decentralized finance (DeFi) insights — a newsletter crafted to bring you significant developments over the last week. This past week, there were some major developments in the run-up to the upcoming Ethereum Merge slated for Sept. 15. Bitfinex became the latest crypto exchange to throw its support behind the chain split token. While DeFi bridge hacks have become a norm this year, developers behind Rainbow Bridge managed to foil an exploit attempt within seconds, leading to the hacker losing their safety deposit. The Tornado Cash developer who was arrested last week …

Just when the Ethereum ecosystem reached its final stages in preparing for the much-anticipated upgrade, The Merge, german cloud provider Hetzner, reiterated its stance against allowing mining operations for both proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-work (PoW) applications. Hetzner, a private, centralized cloud provider, stepped in on a discussion around running blockchain nodes, highlighting its terms of services that prohibit customers from using the services for crypto activities. However, the Ethereum community perceived the revelation as a threat to the ecosystem as Hetzner’s cloud services host nearly 16% of the Ethereum nodes, as shown below. In crypto, the reliance on centralized service …

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has updated its information related to Ethereum transitioning to proof-of-stake to include forks that could arise. In a Thursday update to an Aug. 16 blog post, Coinbase said it would evaluate any potential forks in the Ethereum blockchain on a “case by case basis.” The crypto exchange previously said it planned to 'briefly pause' Ether (ETH) and ERC-20 token deposits and withdrawals during the Merge, expected to occur between Sept. 10 and 20. “Should an ETH PoW fork arise following The Merge, this asset will be reviewed with the same rigor as any other asset that is …

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the central bank will continue to use the “tools forcefully” to bring down inflation, which is close to its highest level in 40 years. He cautioned that the restrictive policy may remain for some time and warned that it could “bring some pain to households and businesses.” The United States equities markets reacted negatively to Powell’s comments with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 600 points. The cryptocurrency markets also witnessed sharp selling with Bitcoin (BTC) and most altcoins threatening to break below their immediate support levels. Along with a not-so-supportive …

Out in the cryptosphere, there's a vast amount of wealth that's seemingly out of reach. A long-running statistic suggests four million Bitcoin — almost 20% of the total supply — has been lost forever. Much of it was mined when the network was just beginning, with early adopters tearing their hair out after losing their private keys. One Welshman has endured a nine-year battle as he attempts to receive a hard drive containing 7,500 BTC from landfill. But this isn't the only treasure trove that's worth exploring. For example, did you know that over 500 Ethereum presale wallets are yet …